RICHMOND, Ind. — One out of every four children in Wayne County under the age of 18 live in poverty. It's a stark number that set the stage for a legislative forum Friday that allowed local lawmakers to hear from the people they represent.

Indiana University East hosted the event in the lobby of the school's Whitewater Hall. It was the first of two planned get-togethers, with the next set for 8 a.m. March 23.

State Sen. Jeff Raatz, State Rep. Tom Saunders and State Rep. Dick Hamm, all of whom represent at least a portion of Wayne County, were on hand to talk about what's been happening so far this year at the Indiana General Assembly.

An audience of 30-plus people had a chance to pepper the legislators with questions about topics that most concerned them. The list included children in foster care, sex education in schools, graduation requirements, the opioid epidemic and gun violence.

But there was one topic that came up time and again over the hour-long event: What can be done so that more people can make a high enough wage to live on?

Some who asked questions were frustrated that nothing was being done about raising the state's minimum wage. The lawmakers, in turn, were frustrated that more people aren't taking advantage of programs offered by the state to help train them for better jobs.

"I don't want to start a firestorm here by any means, but the minimum wage was not created, in my opinion, to have a living wage. Minimum wage was set up so students could work," Raatz said.

"I'm not going to deny at all that a 15-dollar-an-hour job is not enough to cover a family, but at the same time, there's a balance that has to be struck in order for us in this nation to continue to move forward."

According to literature handed out at the forum, Indiana annually invests about $1 billion in 30 workforce development programs run by nine different agencies.

The problem, according to Raatz, is that there are too few who are signing up to take advantage of the opportunities being offered.

"We're begging for people to come and go to Ivy Tech (Community College) and get a skill. We can't get people to come and do it," he said.

"How do we get them to come and skill up so that they can have a decent wage? That's the conundrum that we live in."

Ron Oler, a member of Richmond Common Council and an employee of Ivy Tech, talked about having to turn away businesses that come to the school looking for workers because there are no qualified students to give them.

"We can't get enough people to come in and get trained for welding, for industrial technology, for advanced manufacturing, and these are 16-to-35-dollar-an-hour jobs to start," he said.

"All you need to do is spend a little time to get trained."

Hamm talked about his desire to see employers get involved in programs that would help funnel students to jobs that would be waiting for them after graduation.

"We would like to see more and more and more employers say to the young people in school, 'If you go and get this training, when you come out you will have a job and you'll be paid this amount of money at my business or that business,'" he said.

But all three lawmakers emphasized that this was a problem that requires more than just another government program to fix.

"I want to say this very carefully because I don't want anybody to think that I don't have as much compassion for every individual in Wayne County," Hamm said. "But at some point in time, you've got to stand up for yourself. At some point in time, you've got to put your pants on — your big-boy pants — and go out there and get a job.

"It's not always going to be what the government can give you because we, the government, can only make opportunities."

Jason Truitt is the team leader and senior reporter at the Palladium-Item. Contact him at (765) 973-4459 or jtruitt@pal-item.com.